Typical enterprise customers have a large number of computers communicating in a computer network which also includes various network devices such as routers, switches and network cards, as well as, associated software. Each machine may host a large number of applications. Timely maintenance of the computers including, for example, a hardware replacement schedule, software and application software upgrades and patch installations are difficult to schedule, as well as, time consuming and costly. Software and hardware upgrades may cause software or hardware conflicts in a computer system or computer network. One reason conflicts may occur is that machine configurations may change over time as various upgrades and patches are installed.
Current information technology (IT) departments' efforts have heretofore been inadequate in remedying the problems discussed above. One IT process management approach includes proactively collecting the states or configurations of computers, then analyzing the computers attempting to determine whether the computers are vulnerable to malfunction. The analysis can be difficult and lacking in accuracy, and typically limited to operating system (OS) level configuration.
Frequently, maintenance is initiated post failure of a hardware or software component. For example, hardware maintenance is initiated after failure of a computer, subsystem, or a network device has occurred. This type of failure causes unexpected data loss and extra costs for backup, recovery, and technician time and cost. One difficulty in maintaining software upgrades is that machine configurations change over time as various software packages are installed, which may introduce incompatibilities. Another problem is that with complexity of modem computer systems/networks, it is often difficult to determine when a device, for example a computer, any of a number of computer subcomponents, and/or network devices, may need to be replaced or updated. A further difficulty is in identifying potential software and hardware conflicts when an upgrade is initiated. These types of conflicts may cause an undesirable system failure.
Therefore, a need exists for a method, and system employing the method, for monitoring and analyzing devices and software, e.g., computers, network devices, and software, such as, OS software, and network protocols, and proactively initiate a maintenance event, such as an a hardware or software upgrade.